Man Armed with Machete and Shotgun Was Arrested On Subway In Bay Ridge

Via NBC News, a former Marine and Iraqi veteran was arrested in Bay Ridge today after being found with a duffel bag holding multiple weapons, including a shotgun, a laser and a machete.Police were alerted to the suspect’s whereabouts after he was seen on an S53 bus in Bay Ridge with a weapon poking out of his bag. After he was apprehended, the 27-year-old man—who claimed “he had no intention to hurt anybody”—the police discovered that his bag contained “an unloaded shotgun, shells for the gun, various machine gun and handgun magazines, a military radio, a laser for a shotgun, a machete and a Marine Corps uniform. According to the suspect’s mother, the ex-Marine served three tours in Iraq and “feels responsible for protecting New Yorkers and is burdened by guilt that he let 9/11 happen.”

The man is expected to be charged with criminal possession of a weapon, and will hopefully get the psychiatric care he so clearly needs. Following the Elliot Rodgers massacre this past weekend, today’s arrest is an all too poignant reminder of the need we have in this country for both gun control and mental healthcare.

As one Bay Ridge bystander told NBC, when asked why she thought the man might be carrying so many weapons, ” I don’t know. The world is different.”